> > Subject: somewhat ot: looking dec multia help
> >
> > what would the wise thing to do now, just try a new battery? (i have
> > seen remarks on old part numbers and such, but living in the
> > netherlands we dont have a radioshack, is it ok to just use some 4.5
> > volt battery or are there other things to pay attention to?)
> 
> Yes, you definitely need a new battery first.
> 
> The old, original, battery which I removed from one of my multias and
> which was still sitting at the back of my workbench is a plain little
> cube-shaped Rayovac "computer clock battery" model # 840.  It's a basic
> 4.5 volt alkaline cell, 800 mAh according to the NetBSD "multiafaq.html"
> but others say 500 mAh is more than sufficient.
> 
> The old "dead" battery still reads 4 volts even after at least five
> years sitting idle, which of course means that the clock & NVRAM in the
> multia need nearly the full 4.5 volts to function and maybe they'd even
> be happier with a full 5.0 volts -- not sure what the chip is any more.
> 
> The replacement (which I did find at RadioShack, IIRC) still works fine
> too -- I netbooted the machine a couple of weeks ago, but it has been
> turned off for the vast majority of those five years....
> 
> While you've got it open don't forget to heat-sink that little 74F623
> chip on the bottom (location E215, IIRC)!

thanks for all the information so far, ill focus on getting a battery
first then and see what happens when i put that in.

as for memory, the multia came with some memory already installed. i
assume it used to work with that and guess that the battery might be
causing the current diagnostic led blinking.

thanks,
bart